ate) measures to restore the tiger to its
habitat are called for? While the most com-
mon apposition for the South China tiger in
the last 20 years has been, “the most
endangered of five remaining subspecies of
tigers,” geneticists and zoologists who spe-
cialise in tigrine diversity now argue that
there is no molecular genetic support for
the idea that so-called “tiger subspecies”
are significant evolutionary units.
Morphological and genetic
diversity in tigers is low, and
differences between regional
populations is thought to be
“clinal”, meaning that there are
gradual changes in genotype
and phenotype across the
species’ geographic range,
rather than abrupt, genetically
significant boundaries. These
differences reflect adaptation to
different climates and habitats
over the last 10-20 thousand
years rather than longer-term
sub-speciation (Kitchener 1999,
Wentzel et al. 1999). This re-
conceptualisation of tiger diver-
sity has tremendous potential
to revitalise tiger conservation
efforts. As Andrew Kitchener
suggests, “...critically endan-
gered South China tigers could
readily be genetically reinforced
by animals from northern
Southeast Asia and possibly the
Indian subcontinent. The most important
conservation outcome is that tigers continue
to survive in China, where they continue to
perform their vital role as top predator.”
Unfortunately this idea has not been accept-
ed by representatives of China’s State
Forestry Administration (SFA) in charge of
tiger recovery; the importance of the South
China tiger as a national symbol is simply
too great to be undermined by the science
of genetics. As one Western tiger researcher
pointed out, “The tiger is not a biological
unit, it is a biopolitical unit. The people of
India do not want a Sumatran tiger, the
Chinese do not want a Southeast Asian
tiger.” Whether extinction in the wild marks
the end or a new beginning for the free-
ranging tiger in southern China may hinge
on a struggle between nationalistic concerns
about the purity of China’s nature, on the
one hand, and a pragmatic grasp of scientif-
ic evidence, on the other.
By 2004, the most remarkable and con-
tentious tiger recovery efforts were the
result of collaboration between the SFA and
a private NGO called Save China’s Tigers
(SCT). Li Quan, the founder and director of
the London-based SCT, is employing the
tiger as a national symbol in order to expe-
dite reintroduction projects in what will
become heavily managed and enclosed
“pilot reserves.” After initial efforts to work
closely with the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist
Group (CSG) and Western conservation
experts (including providing funding for the
History, cculture aand cconservation
Figure 7.A young adult tiger in the Meihuashan Nature Reserve
captive breeding and reintroduction facility. (Courtesy of Chris
Coggins)
